UW Is Unique - Just Like Everyone Else

By Phil Hecken, on April 19th, 2014

By Phil Hecken

Ho, hum. Another day, another Nike uniform unveiling. Yesterday it was the University of Washington Huskies’ turn.

Before we take a look at the uniforms, I want you to take a look at the video below — and since it’s pretty short, pay close attention to the imagery on the screen — since it’s all part of the new “image” the U of W (and by extension, Nike) is going to be incorporating into the uniforms.

OK? Maybe watch it a second time — since they actually did a pretty nice job showing the new uniform elements (without showing too much of the uniforms).

Sadly, like the four uniform unveils we’ve had in the past week (Florida State, Miami, Illinois and Syracuse), each one of the new sets of uniforms is fitting a pattern — Nike is making each uniform set unique by making each the same.

Not following? Let me walk you through it quickly.

All four teams who have unveiled this past week have fit a pattern — three (at least) monochromatic uniforms, each one having three possible helmets, and for the most part having mix and match elements; each uniform has something “unique” about it — but they all have sleeve “caps” (for lack of a better term), “unique” fonts (a Nike trademark, if you will) and something or things about the uniforms that tie them into the program’s history, or the stadium, or the area — something. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing — but it’s more and more of the same thing. In their attempt to make each set different…they’re kind of all the same.

So lets take a look at UW’s new uniforms (click on any image to enlarge):

The Full Boat:

Not too shabby, from a distance. There’s purple and gold (school colors), legible fonts…#59 even looks like what we expect from a UW team (gold helmet, purple jersey, gold pants). There’s also a set of white pants and purple pants and black pants. And a black jersey. And a black helmet. OK, they’ve worn black for black’s sake before, so this is nothing new. It’s not a school color, but should that surprise anyone?

The original unveil (at 11:00 am PDT) actually had some folks scared, since they released two images showing ONLY the monochrome combos:

There was a great concern (at least on social media) over the fact that there were no gold pants. Well, this is Nike — you think there wouldn’t be another set of pants in there? Fears were quickly assuaged when the following was shown:

*Phew* That’s better. The uniforms are about what is to be expected (thankfully) — they didn’t go completely crazy (as far as we know) — but Nike’s design hands are all over this. Let’s look at the “unique” features.

The Features:

Unique Fonts:

According to Nike/UW, the “upper-left corner of each numeral is capped in gold, representing the Huskies’ ownership of the Northwest Territory.” I kid you not. It’s not a bad font, actually (rounded, non-serifed numbers are a big thing now) — but that little extra “detail” is unnecessary (bordering on stupid) and that explanation — “ownership of the Northwest Territory” — beyond ridiculous. The font’s name is, of course, “Northwest.”

Frost Texture:

This one is a headscratcher (literally). The white helmet features a ‘frost texture’ that Nike/UW says is “resembling Northwest frost.” Um. OK — when I posted the above photo on Twitter, there was a pretty amazing comment string, with most folks saying it resembled a “popcorn ceiling” and even questioned whether it could be worn. I’m sure there will be an issue with a team outfitted in a helmet that has a surface area akin to coarse grade sandpaper. My buddy James Huening actually thought it resembled the raised bumps on a curling sheet — and I agree it does!

This isn’t the dumbest quirk ever, but stupid, stupid, stupid. Even in the stills, you can see how tough it was to attach the “W” decal — even if the helmet is cleared for play, how often to you think those decals are going to peel, tear, or completely off?

“Iconic Jaws”:

Wait, what? That’s just a part of the uniform design, right? Nope. The “Iconic Jaws” are a visual representation of the “iconic jaws of Husky Stadium.” Dig:

You have got to be fucking kidding me. Really?

This feature is so ridiculous as to actually be completely awesome. “Hey, our uniforms pay tribute to our stadium! Check it out!” That’s awesome, bruh.

“Dawgs Call Out”:

OK, this isn’t a big deal — the black pants have “Dawgs” in purple down both pant legs. Thankfully, the TNDL doesn’t make it to the other three sets of pants.

“No Dawg Runs Alone” (inside collar detail):

So the coolest “unique” detail of the uniform is actually the one the public will never see? Yep. All jersey neck interiors feature a graphic (explained above) representing the formation of sled dogs. I like this! Too bad it’ll never be seen (maybe that’s for the best). But leave it to Nike to have no uni detail too small. And insignificant.

Pants:

The white and gold (and I think purple, but it’s hard to see — I believe it’s black) pants feature the “shape” you see above — not sure what it is representing (Nike didn’t explain that), but possibly it’s just there to lead the eye beneath the shape to the ventilation panel below it. And as you can see from the above photo, there may be an issue with the white pants, particularly if there is any sweating involved. I sure hope that material is .000037% lighter, otherwise it’s probably not worth it.

Sleeve caps:

Nike has a new thing for creating sleeve caps. UW doesn’t escape that treatment either — on the purple and black jerseys, the cap is black, and on the white jersey, the cap is purple. Another way of making the uniform unique by making it the same.

. . .

So, what’s the verdict? I like the purple/gold combo, and the fonts are pretty good. Other than that? Meh. As uniforms, on Paul’s good/stupid scale, they’re probably on the “good” half of the meter. But there is no need for the purple pants (or white pants, really) and they certainly don’t need three helmets and an all black uniform. But that’s what they’re getting. Because Nike. On the good or stupid scale, I think you know where the extra garments fall. As far as the “unique” design elements? The textured white helmet is probably (while cool looking) one of the dumbest things to come out of Beaverton this year. The “jaws” is probably a great sales job, since I’m pretty sure that particular design element just happens to be there anyway. The fonts really don’t need the gold caps, but at least they’re legible. And the sled thing inside the collar is pretty good.

I’ll give them a grade of “B” to “B+” because they could have been so much worse — but they kept the purple and gold (and it’s tough to tell, but the gold seems to be a bit ‘darker’ — more ‘old gold’ than ‘metallic’ gold), and UW already had a BFBS uni, so this is just more of the same.

If you want to read the Nike press release, the corporate-speak is always good for a laugh. You can check out my Flickr album too — couple shots in there that weren’t seen above.

OK readers — what’s YOUR verdict?

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Today we’ll be taking a look at the eighth set of uniform submissions for the Lewis & Clark Design-a-Uniform Contest, for the team known as the “Pioneers.” If you’re not familiar with the contest, please give that a read. The contest’s creator, W. Ross Clites will be asking readers to design uniforms for all of the teams in the Lewis & Clark League, and thus far we’ve asked for submissions for a total of ten teams. We’ve looked at the “Captains,” “Diplomats,” “Explorers,” “Governors,” “Lookouts,” “Navigators,” “Pathfinders,” and today, we’ll see the concepts for the “Pioneers.”

Two other teams have been put to readers for concepts, the Travelers and the Voyagers. If you’d like to submit your concept for either team, the deadline for submissions for the Travelers is Wednesday, April 23 and the deadline for submissions for the Voyagers is Wednesday, April 30. Tomorrow, Ross will have a short write-up for the eleventh team, so make sure you check back then!

At this point I’ll turn it over to Ross, who will go over the guidelines for voting, and then I’ll be back with some final words before we take a look at the entries from our contestants. Here’s Ross (these guidelines will likely accompany each set of voting):

. . . . .

Alright boys and girls, here is how the voting is going to go for each Lewis & Clark Baseball League team:

1. The hierarchy of importance goes primary logo, then uniform design, and then all rest (i.e. hat design, secondary logos, etc.) Cast a vote for the design with your favorite primary logo, first and foremost. Do not fault someone for going outside the design guidelines. Changing a wordmark or adding a third color is not a disqualifier for good thought process.

2. Your votes will take the field of applicants down to a final two per team.

3. We, the LCBL Executive Board will make the final decision on the winning proposal. However — and this is big — design is never complete and collaboration is paramount to success. We will likely settle on a combination of the final two submissions. We might love the logo of one, but prefer the jersey scheme of the other. In this, you will both be winners with full prizes to ensue. The possibility does exist for a total victory, of sorts. One designer could present the best looking jersey, logo, hat, and all the rest. Do not get offended when your submission gets handed back to you with redlined edits. We hate to hand out homework to the winning look, but tweaks may be requested. It is a studio project and not a math equation; the “right” answer takes some massaging of details.

4. With permission from both finalists, our graphics department will meld the two submissions together (if necessary) and place it in our common platform. This is done as a common denominator showcase for all twelve to look uniform when the contest has reached its end.

5. Someone, not even in the top two, could see an element (such as an awesome secondary logo) appear in the final iteration. We would never select the winner based solely on a minor design element, but we will also not let it go to waste. In this, all submissions could be part of a bigger design team. This contest — and frankly this site — was created to identify the best possible combinations of logos and materials in the sports world. This rarely comes from one person’s mind; we will reward any of those that play a part in making our on-field product the best it can be.

. . . . .

Thanks, Ross. A few words about the submissions below:

Some of the contestants sent one single image, others sent multiple images. Some contestants sent descriptions (in some cases, very lengthy ones), others had little or no description. In an effort to make the voting as fair as possible, I have put those who sent multiple images into one single image, and no descriptions of the uniforms will follow. If you’d like to see all the entries for the Navigators and their write-ups/descriptions, I have hosted the entire set on Flickr. Keeping in mind Ross’ rules for voting, you may use these as an additional guide in determining which submission(s) you think are the best.

The submissions will be in alphabetical order and voting will follow. You may vote for any three of the concepts below. You may click on any image to enlarge. OK? OK. Here we go:

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Kyle Allebach:

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Bert Ayers:

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Matt Blinco:

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Ryan Foose:

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Brady Ivie:

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Denver King:

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Kevin McLaughlin:

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Curtis Peddle:

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Bryan Phillips:

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Kyle Piercy & Ryan Thorpe:

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Will Sinnott:

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OK, readers. That’s quite an impressive set of contributions! Now it’s time for you to vote. You’ll be allowed to vote for up to THREE (3) submissions. You may wish to scroll up for one more viewing, and write down your favorites.

And now it’s your turn! Make sure to vote for your favorites and let all of the concepters know what you think of their designs. They all put a great deal of effort into this, so tell them how they did (and lobby for your favorites, if you wish).

Thanks to all the submitters — we’ll be back next weekend at which time Ross will reveal the winner(s) and how they will adapt the design for the Lewis & Clark league!

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Too Good…

for the Ticker

Got an e-mail from Trevor Williams, who is our resident Soccer expert, with a “Soccer Roundup.” It’s just too good for the regular ticker, so it gets its own section, below:

Hockey News: Now that the Stanley Cup playoffs are underway, it’s time for some unique displays at the arenas where the playoffs will be held. One of the better ones is this lego Stanley Cup in front of the Boston Garden (h/t Sully @pal3327).

74 comments to UW Is Unique – Just Like Everyone Else

arrScott|
April 19, 2014 at 7:18 am |

Nike is making each uniform set unique by making each the same.

Perfectly stated. This is why what Nike does cannot be called “design,” nor the Nike employees who do this work, “designers.” The first values of design are functionality and the client’s interests. Nike has a pattern both of valuing form over function – and then spinning insulting BS stories about the supposed function behind its forms – and an even more consistent pattern of fitting client product to Nike’s needs and interests, not the other way around. That may be good work, it may be a valid business approach, and Nike uniforms may even at times be beautiful art, but what Nike does simply is not, and cannot be called, design. To do so would be to insult design as a craft and the professional integrity of every actual designer individually.

Clevo|
April 19, 2014 at 7:32 am |

Apparently no one at Nike, or an institute of higher learning doesn’t know how to do a google search or have wiki. The Northwest Territory was the area “north west of the ohio river” aka Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Well, it’s not like Nike would allow them to claim ownership of Oregon Territory.

arrScott|
April 19, 2014 at 9:01 am |

Thank you! It would be fine to say simply “the Northwest,” or the Great Northwest or the Pacific Northwest or the Upper-Left Corner or something. But the Northwest Territory is an actual historical thing with specific boundaries. One of the last big things Congress did under the Articles of Confederation was to organize the Northwest Territory under the Northwest Ordinances. Which is the sort of thing I’d expect basically anyone who attended a decent high school to have learned in social studies at some point. Apparently not the geniuses at Nike, though.

DenverGregg|
April 19, 2014 at 9:45 am |

. . . they’d have been less far off claiming the southwest corner of the Yukon Territory.

diggerjohn111|
April 19, 2014 at 9:51 am |

It’s just “Yukon” now, they are moving towards becoming a province.

Jim Vilk|
April 19, 2014 at 10:14 am |

Then they’ll have a province for each point on the maple leaf. Cool.

JTH|
April 19, 2014 at 10:22 am |

Yeah, it’s been plain-ol’ Yukon for a decade or so, but it’s still a territory so “Yukon Territory” is not wrong.

Will S|
April 19, 2014 at 12:39 pm |

Someone at Nike thought it was the Northwest Territories but another guy there caught that mistake; he figured Sgt. Preston would have Nunavut that idea. (sorry – part of me really wanted to do that).

Wonder how many people and how much time Nike dedicates in making their “stories”. Are there a significant number of people out there that buy all that b.s. hook, line, and sinker?

If Nike looked around hard enough they could claim any element could represent whatever look they roll. The jaws of the stadium on the UW may be the stupidest one yet. Not as stupid as what Florida State is doing.

Alex|
April 19, 2014 at 7:55 am |

Arkansas, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, is a Nike school. Has been since Bobby Petrino’s second or third year.

I suppose the fact that Nikegon U is losing one element of their recruiting advantage (silly costumes) is a plus, but other than that, they suck suck suck! Don James is rolling over in his grave. Oh wait, how does Team Douchebag incorporate that into the costume???

biged6464|
April 19, 2014 at 9:26 am |

Quick note on the neon trimmed batting gloves, the “trend” started in last year’s playoffs w/ Big Papi and seems to be limited to Franklin brand gloves. Which is odd since Franklin is one of the stalwarts in the batting glove game and known for their tradition. I liken it to a company like Russell who outfits Ga Tech and other second tier teams and their half ass, misguided attempts at being a UA or Nike with their poorly executed modern attempts at uniforms. They must only be able to afford second rate marketers/designers. Franklin has always been different by staying the same (for the most part). This after thought attempt at trying to keep up w/ the shiny, bright toys from other companys to attract Millennials has come as just that, an afterthought.

JTH|
April 19, 2014 at 9:48 am |

It’s not limited to Franklin. My daughter has a pair of black Under Armour batting gloves with fluorescent green accents.

biged6464|
April 19, 2014 at 2:39 pm |

well at least UA is one of the founders of the neon snot game, Franklin was always a company you could count on for tradition in the batting glove arena. Now they are trying to be who they aren’t. Think present day Madonna dressing like a teen rocker, looking a fool while doing so.

Let’s hear it again for Phil, who for the second consecutive week did a SENSATIONAL job with an unveiling review. Great, great work.

As for this:

Fortunately, the next one is Arkansas and it’s on Monday… have fun with that one Paul.

I’ll be in Bristol for ESPN meetings all day on Monday and Tuesday, and I’m having dinner with some of my editors on Monday night, so there’s a decent chance I won’t have time to write anything about the Arkansas unveiling. But we’ll see….

LarryB|
April 19, 2014 at 2:47 pm |

I agree, The past few weekends Phil has done a great job on the college unis. I am a college football fan first and foremost. I miss the days of traditional uniforms. But while I am tired of these unveilings every single year I enjoy seeing them.

I was looking at the Huskies site yesterday and was anxious when I found this part.

Check out GoHuskies.com for the Uniform Hub, including videos, the press release and every uniforms the Huskies have ever worn.

Then I found the so called history and was thoroughly disappointed in how lame it was.

“I’ll be in Bristol for ESPN meetings all day on Monday and Tuesday, and I’m having dinner with some of my editors on Monday night, so there’s a decent chance I won’t have time to write anything about the Arkansas unveiling. But we’ll see….”

I vote for a rare weekday pinch hit appearance by Phil!

Bromotrifluoromethane|
April 19, 2014 at 10:41 pm |

HHhhmmmm… Conveniently planned meetings? Got it!!! Haha!! Just busting. You and Phil both do great jobs covering all of these.

Chris|
April 19, 2014 at 9:52 am |

The UW uniforms aren’t bad, though the explanations are eye-roll inducing. Like Phil, I kind of like the sled dawg imagery on the collar. I wonder if they experimented with that as a pants stripe. It would have been better than the random shape they ended up with.

Chris|
April 19, 2014 at 10:37 am |

I was just coming to post about this same exact thing! And my name is Chris.

Stan Bunting|
April 19, 2014 at 9:57 am |

The white UW helmet is just stupid. The dumbest thing I think I have ever seen.

The use of “dawg” is also annoying beyond belief.

I sure am glad I didn’t go to Washington.

The ASU Jaguar|
April 19, 2014 at 4:01 pm |

Those uniforms are hideous. I’d like to take EVERY college football uniform designer for EVERY equipment company, strap them down and pry their eyes open like they did Malcolm McDowell in “A Clockwork Orange”, and make them watch nothing but images of early-to-mid 1960s college football uniforms.

STOP WITH THE SHITTY NUMBER FONTS, YOU ASSHOLES! BLOCK NUMBERS AND BLOCK LETTERS ONLY!

And by the way, Washington…the University of Georgia BULLDAWGS are the ONLY DAWGS.

Ryan in Seattle|
April 21, 2014 at 1:15 pm |

Like it or not, Washington fans (I am an alum) do consider themselves “Dawgs”. So sorry there Jaguar. Fans of a team can call themselves whatever they want. It’s their prerogative as fans.

My biased opinion: Love the throwback dark gold pants to the 90’s (Emtman years). Nothing else they did here was so bad as to override that awesome change. Good riddance to the old metallic gold pants!

Hope they wear the dark gold set more than the monochromes through!

Keith|
April 19, 2014 at 9:57 am |

UW #71 is one fat-ass bastard.

JTH|
April 19, 2014 at 10:17 am |

Was this comment really necessary? It’s just hurtful and mean-spirited. It adds nothing to the discussion.

Ya know, part of me knows that Nike likes to be really hands-on with redoing a school’s look. Like, ABOVE AND BEYOND MUCH TOO HANDS-ON, but part of me also sees the schools approaching Nike, asking for their “magic touch”. My headcanon sees the school/Nike exchange going something like this:

[School 1]“Ooh ooh, can I have a neat number font, too?”[Nike]“Yes you can, young Syracuse. You are my special snowflake, after all.”[School 2]“Am I a special snowflake, Mr. Nike?”[Nike]“You’re a very pretty special snowflake, Washington.”

I think Nike (whether it be intentional or not) has helped to breed this culture of “Everyone is special”, which is painfully ironic.

Jeff F.|
April 19, 2014 at 11:49 am |

Not every team is special on the field. But at least they can dress special.

BvK1126|
April 19, 2014 at 8:16 pm |

I don’t mind custom numeral fonts in theory. I like the idea of every team having something unique about their visual identity that helps make them recognizable.

In practical application, however, Nike’s creation of all these custom fonts has been a mixed bag at best and largely embarrassing at worst. The first problem, as I see it, is that in its falling-over-backwards efforts to create “unique” fonts, Nike invariably takes an interesting concept and completely overdoes it. Washington’s numbers are no exception. In order to make their gold notch gimmick work, they distort rounded numbers such as the “8.” Talk about forcing a square peg into a round hole!

Perhaps an even worse problem however, is the way Nike shovels a heaping mound of BS into the “story” behind ever new number font. The Syracuse load of crap was bad enough. But the “ownership of the Northwest Territory” explanation is so off-base from a factual and historical standpoint as to render the entire concept utterly meaningless. Seriously, Nike, do a little fact checking before you roll this garbage out!

HecEdHooligan|
April 19, 2014 at 10:14 am |

Keith.. UW #71 is a nose tackle (and a pretty damn good one at that), being tiny isn’t exactly common at that position.

Fooser | April 5, 2014 at 2:21 pm |
For the sake of the league and the designers who spent the time putting together original concepts…
Brady Ivie’s designhttps://farm8.static...should be looked into further…http://www.triblocal...

Rob H.|
April 19, 2014 at 7:03 pm |

Amazing that the only three entrants who are participants in the UWFFL are the same three accused of cheating. Coincidence?

BvK1126|
April 19, 2014 at 7:24 pm |

“Amazing that the only three entrants who are participants in the UWFFL are the same three accused of cheating. Coincidence?”

If anyone is misappropriating other people’s intellectual property in their Lewis & Clark League design contest entries, no matter who it is, it should be pointed out. Are you aware of anyone else besides these three who have done so? If so, it should be brought to light for the sake of the contest’s integrity and for the league’s protection.

By the way, weren’t there a few instances of entries in the UWFFL design contest using existing logos in their designs? Was that something that disqualified anyone’s designs?

Even if it didn’t, the stakes are much different in this case. The UWFFL is an online fantasy league. The Lewis & Clark League is a real, functioning baseball league. The winning designs are going to be turned into real uniforms and (I suspect) other forms of paraphernalia. Money is going to be exchanged in the creation of the goods that bear these designs. This isn’t a case of someone ripping Wisconsin’s “Motion W” to use as their fantasy football team’s logo. This has actual practical and monetary implications.

Rob H.|
April 19, 2014 at 7:49 pm |

No I was just pointing out the coincidence. Not saying those three didn’t borrow from existing designs, nor that any of the others did. And I agree that in the UWFFL there isn’t any prohibition from doing such, while in this Lewis & Clark league there could be negative real-world ramifications for doing so, if those jerseys were made and there were legal complications from it.

I was just pointing out the mere coincidence.

BvK1126|
April 19, 2014 at 7:05 pm |

“It’s disappointing to see more and more people using existing logos for these L&C competitions.”

It’s not just disappointing, it’s likely illegal. Using someone else’s logos and designs without permission is a kind of intellectual property theft. We are probably looking at instances of both copyright infringement and trademark infringement here. The Lewis & Clark League would be wise to simply disqualify these entries.

Bromotrifluoromethane|
April 19, 2014 at 9:21 pm |

I’ve not been a fan of Brady’s designs for this contest or his sent in concepts but it seems like his stuff for this contest has taken it up quite a bit. Ripping off logos and jersey styles now so there’s nothing at all original submitted? And as a former STH for the Pioneers team he got that logo from I recognized that logo immediately. Very disappointed to see it combined with a sunrise jersey which is a style I despise under any circumstances. SMH.

Jim Vilk|
April 19, 2014 at 11:09 am |

What’s worse than no stirrups? Possibly it’s faux stirrups (also known as two-in-ones).

Hey now. Nothing wrong with those.

So are you saying you’d rather see pajama pants than two-in-ones? Pfff.

Lee Wilds|
April 19, 2014 at 11:11 am |

The Chicken Sandwich Bowl is going to be renamed the Chicken Sandwich Peach Bowl as per Tony Barnhart, SEC football insider. Press release coming Monday, the reasoning is that all the bowls participating in the new playoffs must follow the same naming convention.

Say what you will about Nike making every team uniquely the same, it’s better than the Adidas approach of putting multiple teams into the same bad template. I’ll take custom number fonts and silly uniform quirks with a marketing story over “you’re all Team Adidas, now wear these zebra striped shorts” any day.

JohnK|
April 19, 2014 at 11:27 am |

Besides the aesthetics and silly super-hype-talk, does anyone else understand that the “textured” helmets may be an actual safety risk? Years ago, some of the first bike helmets that came out had textured shells or were styrofoam without any sort of shell. I recall reading at the time that the relative grippiness of those early helmets was discovered to (or thought to) cause increased risk of neck injuries because the helmet (and head) would stop upon impact (even for a split second), and the rest of the body would want to keep moving. Hence the fairly slick coverings on most bike helmets now.
It is not quite apples to apples, but seems like the risks would at least be similar.

I HATED that font. It is bolder now, and I don’t mind the gold accent triangles, even if their reason for existing is stupid. I’d rather that then awful “joining” numbers like the Vikings have.

One thing, though, on the shot of Riva’s purple 59 jersey…the TV numbers look black with white outlines. That can’t be…I think that’s the ugliest thing of all on these uniforms.

justin|
April 19, 2014 at 11:59 pm |

i hate the number font largely because they are pretty much the same one used in the 2008 (0-12) season. anything that reminds me of that tire fire of a football season, or that tire fire of a football coach gets a thumbs down.

Skycat|
April 19, 2014 at 12:43 pm |

I can’t help but think that Nike’s sleeve caps are an admission that they are having problems incorporating traditional stripes, either of the vertical UCLA variety or traditional horizontal ones) into their new fabrics.

I think it’s just a response to the fact that football jerseys don’t really have sleeves any more. Traditional sleeve stripes don’t really work if there’s no sleeve to put them on.

Craigerfulloffun|
April 19, 2014 at 12:55 pm |

Long time lurker, first time commenter, big Husky fan. So much to get off my chest with this one.

First, the thing no one seems to be talking about, is that these uniforms seem to look like Willingham-era uniforms, which I think no one wants to recall.

Second, why the black on the purple shirts? On the purple uniforms it just look weird. The Dawgs have a strong athletic tradition and traditionally sharp uniforms, so why totally abandon that with black all over the purple uniform? I’m coming around to keeping the BFBS on one uni set, but I can’t stand introducing it to the others. The black TV numbers are especially atrocious.

But the biggest question I have is WHY HAVE THEY NOT INTRODUCED MATTE PURPLE HELMETS?!?!?! It’s the only non-gold helmet that makes sense to me for UW, there’s a great Husky tradition of purple helmets (in the 50s(?), the defensive player of the game got to wear a purple helmet the next week…imagine being a QB and having the only guy in a purple helmet coming on a blitz!) and they would look obnoxiously sharp. The matte paint job was meant for a purple helmet and, in retrospect, the Lambright-era doesn’t look so bad. The white helmets look awkward and the black is, well, black. Purple helmets would be perfect for the alternate.

Over all, the font matches the rest of the UW athletic department unis, and the gold flair is fine minus the explanation. The random color swoosh is more “Nike styling” that doesn’t really matter but doesn’t look good. I’m also tired of the white pants on anything but the white jersey and the monochrome purple reminds me too much of Florida State, for some reason. It’s worth keeping in mind that Nike gear looks better photoshopped than in real life.

Oh well, I guess I can only pray for an Addidas contract sometime soon. And while I’m not much of a Sark fan, I appreciate the admiration he had for the UW tradition. All this considered, I may be OK with everything as long as there is no American flag helmet logo this year for 9/11. Tacky.

-Craig

BvK1126|
April 19, 2014 at 8:20 pm |

Great first comment! I’m glad you stopped lurking.

DJ|
April 19, 2014 at 3:07 pm |

French League Cup final on beIN, PSG vs Lyon. Both teams’ shirts with metallic gold numbers (PSG with navy jerseys, Lyon in white) for the occasion.

1) The “faux stirrups” are not worse than no stirrups! Of course real stirrups are preferable. But the faux stirrups present the right look, which is what matters most. If guys are willing to eschew the horrible pajama look and to show some sock (as some players are proving to be), then faux stirrups might be a way of getting the right look out there.

2) In the Pathe newsreel search, I was suprised to see Frankie Crosetti wearing no. 1 in the 1937 World Series.

I had always thought of Crosetti as no. 2, because that was the number he wore for many years as third-base coach. I had assumed that this was his main playing number. But according to Baseball Reference, it turns out that Crosetti wore no. 1 for more seasons (seven) than any other number.

Crosetti wore no. 2 only in his final four seasons as a player, 1945-1948, and then for the next twenty years as third base coach. Before that he wore no. 1 between 1937 and 1944.

And in his first five seasons, 1932-1936, he had worn no. 5. So, in Joe D.’s rookie season of 1936, Crosetti wore no. 5 while Joe wore no. 9.

Scott|
April 19, 2014 at 5:02 pm |

I’m so sick of the custom number fonts. I suppose that traditional block numbers are a dying breed.

Btw any reason why American football uniform uniforms are turning into clown outfits, while MLB and the NBA are going retro? Does anyone understand the demographic segment (or other underlying phenomenon) which is causing this?

Looks like Brady Ivie and Curtis Peddle found the exact same “Pioneer” guy to copy from the internet. The internet is a big place…what are the chances? The only difference is the fact that one them knows how to properly use Adobe Illustrator.

On a related note: I hope the people running the Lewis & Clark League (and those in charge of finalizing the designs) are making sure all of the winners are 100% original. I know it is highly unlikely that someone will ever find out that their design has been stolen/uncredited/plagiarized and is being used by this league, but still, never want that hanging over your head.

Ryan P|
April 19, 2014 at 5:07 pm |

Some of the comments that I’m noticing about these uniforms are downright childish, applying any logic that they can find to put down these, at worst, slightly above average uniforms. It makes no sense for any team at this point to not have a jersey or pair of pants for every team color, plus black & white. The only reasonable dissatisfaction towards uniform colors at this point should be when a team unveils an unnecessary grey uniform (as much as I love most grey uniforms, they are technically extraneous for most teams) or a black accessory when they use navy blue as their dark color.
The only other thing that just doesn’t make any sense to me about these arguments is the vitriol towards how “uniquely not-unique” they are. This website is a stereotypically “classic uniform” admiring website, at least in my opinion. This leads me to believe that most people frequenting this site would enjoy a movement towards classic style jerseys for most teams, if not all of them. I know I certainly would enjoy some teams making their classic look a little bit more, you know, actually classic. But how would moving back towards older designs, with arguably less variation in design aspects, be any less “uniquely not-unique”?
Quick tangent, as corny as Nike’s reasoning and explanations behind some of the features of the uniforms are, knocking Nike’s business/marketing sense because of a dislike of them is simply ignorant. At the very worst, this press release is a “poorly planned by Nike standards” commercial. Seeing as how this entire article is based around the unveiling, and this is one of the most well-known uniform websites, they must be doing decently at their jobs.

The ASU Jaguar|
April 19, 2014 at 7:13 pm |

I can’t speak for the other commenters, but I HATE modern football uniforms and equipment. If I could have my way, every college and NFL football team would be outfitted in the same gear players in the mid-1960s wore. Only Riddell plastic shell helmets with one-bar facemasks mandatory for all skill position players and two-bar facemasks mandatory for linemen/linebackers. Durene jerseys and pants with BLOCK FUCKING NUMBERS.

Modern football uniforms look like Mighty Morphin Power Ranger costumes.

Bromotrifluoromethane|
April 19, 2014 at 9:41 pm |

I’m so glad I live in our current world and not that world. Yes I DO consider myself middle of the road with leanings toward the modern looks. So with that said I HATE the single bar facemasks (or any team wearing gray facemasks with no gray in their team colors). Really Cleveland, Indy, Arizona, and San Fran the technology exists not to paint them, you know, TEAM COLORS! USE IT!!
I also hate seeing teams wearing all white on the road. Even high school teams make enough money to buy 2 different sets of pants. Most people like the traditional looks. I agree on some that do look great. But overall I consider them to look outdated and unwilling to change with the times.

Brendan (no longer the Aspie)|
April 19, 2014 at 5:49 pm |

Northwest Territory my ass. In no way do the Washington Huskies own any part of Canada.

BvK1126|
April 19, 2014 at 8:33 pm |

What?! The Washington Huskies are British Columbia’s college team! The gold notch in the numbers totally looks like Vancouver Island extending out beyond Puget Sound. (Hey, that makes about as much sense as the explanation Nike came up with…)

CTD|
April 19, 2014 at 7:11 pm |

Oh Swooshkateers. Your stories could be good, but they so often get taken too far for them to deserve anything other than teenage girl eye rolls.

While the story about the Pacific, er Northwest Territory, is bad enough, I really don’t get most of the numbers.

The one positive statement I can make is that the gold tipped number for 1, 2, 7 (single digit only) look really good because they’re all left facing/originated
. Note, this might include a yet to be seen 3, too

However, I have several issues with the remainder of the numbers, some being less obvious than others.
. The gold tipped font for numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 (center and right facing/orig numbers) look like crap because of where the gold tip should be (right side), and some look like they have a dunce hat on. No really. Look at the 8 and 5 again.
. Even worse is that double digit numbers only have one gold tipped number (the first #), so technically, from a design standpoint, they’re using two fonts right next to each other.
. More numerical tragedy is that the purple jerseys have black TV (shoulder) numbers when the rest of the numbers plus players’ names are white. Why is this the case when the black and white jerseys are consistent? Did someone get lost in the eyes of the purple jersey’s black sleeve cap?
. Another curious fact is that none of the TV (shoulder) numbers have the same gold tipped font. Did the person making small numbers fight against it?

Just head scratching.

Also, the worst part of the story to me is the “Iconic Jaws” of Husky Stadium. Can they really be that iconic when the jerseys they will wear the most (purple and white) don’t even have the same “Iconic Jaws”?

Clearly this is just about where the fabric is sewn rather than an actual story.

My issues with the numbers and jaws are many, but I think it’s an upgrade over the classic helmet and pants with modern collar piping jerseys they’ve been wearing.

I’d say B-.

Bromotrifluoromethane|
April 19, 2014 at 9:31 pm |

Although UW isn’t my favorite school I have always liked them so my thoughts on this one? It’ll probably differ from most UW fans. I don’t think it’s all that bad considering what it could’ve been.

The corners on the numbers are totally unnecessary and could go away.
No need for black or white pants.
No need for the white or black helmet.
I really like the sledding logo on the collars. Why couldn’t they add that on the sleeves where it could be seen & put the Dawgs on the collar?
If they insist on the white helmet all those graphics type helmets out there that could’ve added that frost look (look at VaTech’s stone helmets) and yet they put these bumps on it. It just looks like the helmet is cold, and not in the way they intended.
Gold-purple-gold at home and purple-white-purple on the road is all combos that’s needed. Sorry, I realize the purple helmets were not popular with the UW fans but I thought they looked great.

Overall I still rate it as “good” on the GoS scale because what they replaced were terrible. But it could be so much better with a few tweaks. I think that can be said about all of nike’s designs, but hey at least they take all that time they could be making the uniforms that much better and devoting it to creating custom fonts.

Rob H.|
April 19, 2014 at 10:20 pm |

In this whole post and comments, I’m not 100% entirely sure where “UW” refers to “University of Washington” and where it refers to “Uni Watch”.